Mysteryland USA is here. The three-day electronic dance music, culture, arts and lifestyle festival is underway at the site of the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, the 1969 festival that united the baby boomer generation and defined an era.

Bethel Woods Center for the Arts - which owns the land of the festival site and much of the land surrounding - is hosting SFX Entertainment, who is producing Mysteryland US. The festival was born in the Netherlands by ID&T, and for 19 years has been an annual event for Dutch dance lovers. Mysteryland expanded to Chili in 2011, and now it comes to America for the first time, landing in Bethel.

Reporter James Nani and photographer Kelly Marsh are at Mysteryland all weekend. They'll deliver live tweets, photos, tales of woe, tales of wonderful, and everything you need to know about electronic dance music, festival life and the mostly early-20-something crowd.

As we cover Mysteryland – before, during and after the festival – follow us and join our community.

- Visit recordonline.com/mysteryland for the latest news, photos, video and social media feeds from the festival. We'll have all the previews, plus the information festivalgoers and Bethel-area residents should know.

- At or going to Mysteryland? Follow our pix, video, words and fun stuff at timesheraldrecord.tumblr.com. We'll be using the #MLUSA tag throughout.

- Follow us on instagram @recordonline and like our photos from Mysteryland! We'll be using the #MLUSA tag throughout.

- And follow us on Twitter @recordonline as we tweet from the festival using #MLUSA.

*****

Welcome to Mysteryland Sunday.

By James Nani

Times Herald-Record

BETHEL -- Deep into Saturday night and well into Sunday morning, bass music cranked through the air at Mysterland USA.

Crowds of thousands of people pulsating in syncopation like a heart beat to music under the matte-black tarp of Bethel skies and stars. The bass could be heard five miles away.

A six-story stage shaped like a castle of playing cards, shining like a disco ball seen rolling through a kaleidoscope and billowing with smoke.

The acrid smell of cigarettes. The occasional burning spliff of skunky weed. A cold night. Rain again and again.

Beer and liquor.

High fives, elbow-to-elbow dancing, wide smiles, puzzled wandering and dance floor make-out sessions that, on at least one occasion, escalated into something more than a friendly kiss and hug.

The electronic dance music standby of trading colorful beaded bracelets - "kandi" - with each other was in full effect.

That's been the story of Mysteryland USA so far -- a tech-infused, hippie-inspired, electronic dance festival being held at the original sight of Woodstock music festival almost 45 years ago.

Walking down Bethel Woods Center of the Arts' paths, the crowds of people, mostly in their 20s, slipping from dance floor to dance floor, under carnival tents and into spiegeltents to revel away their Memorial Day weekend.